Make it 4 straight

Lady Buffs clinch LSC South with 61-49 win

Posted: Thursday, February 19, 2009

Amarillo Globe-News

Joni Unruh scored a career-high 19 points and teammate Ceciley Johnson had a career-high 14 points in just 19 minutes as West Texas A&M's Lady Buffs clinched their fourth straight Lone Star Conference South Division title by defeating Angelo State, 61-49, Wednesday night at the Junell Center in San Angelo.

A crowd of 1,675 watched the Lady Buffs, No. 7 nationally and No. 1 in the South Central Region, win their 11th straight game while ending a four-game Rambelles' win streak.

The Lady Buffs fell behind 6-0 in the opening two minutes before going on a 27-8 scoring run during the next 11:21 to grab a 27-14 lead with six minutes remaining before halftime.

Division Champions

Records: WT is 22-3, 10-0. Angelo State is 14-10, 5-4.

Impact: The Lady Buffs clinch their fourth straight LSC South title.

Impact: WT's Joni Unruh scores 19.

They led 34-20 at halftime, and in the second half never led by fewer than nine points.

The Lady Buffs began the night with a two-game lead over Abilene Christian in the division and clinched the title as the Wildcats were beaten by Tarleton State, 73-59, at Stephenville.

In holding an opponent to under 50 points for the eighth time, the Lady Buffs converted 24 Rambelles turnovers into 25 points.

''We knew that we had to play good defense,'' said Johnson. ''Our goal was to go out and play as hard as we could defensively for 40 minutes.''

The Lady Buffs shot 42 percent from the field on 23-of-55, including 3-of-10 from 3-point range. They were 12-of-21 from the free-throw line for 57 percent and outrebounded ASU 38-31, including 15-10 at the offensive end.

The Rambelles shot 33 percent from the field on 14-of-42, including 3-of-9 treys. They were 18-of-27 from the line.

Unruh led WT with seven rebounds. Courtney Lee added 13 points, grabbed five rebounds and dished out six assists.

Camille Perkins scored 14 points, grabbed seven rebounds and dished out four assists to lead Angelo State. Ann Parks had 11 points and pulled down five rebounds.

The Lady Buffs will close out their regular season home schedule Saturday against Texas A&M-Kingsville at 6 p.m. at the First United Bank Center, then conclude the regular season on the road against ACU on Feb. 28